As is well known, the primary route by which communicable diseases are transmitted is from individual to individual. The ease of transmissibility of pathogens and germs, as well as the debilitating diseases caused by the pathogens and germs cause concern for most people.
People who walk with bear feet through dirty floors, the ground, carpets, outdoors, tiles, etc. may pick up pathogens on their feet from these surfaces, namely, bacteria and viruses. Most people have the common habit of stepping on the floor with bare feet. Sometimes, people need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night or in the middle of a sleep cycle, so they exit and reenter the bed with their bare feet stepping on the floor. Once returning the bed, it is likely that the person will reenter the bed with dirt, hair, lint, and germ pathogens on their feet. Similarly, the outside environment upon which people walk such as streets, sidewalks, grass, etc. are heavily contaminated with animal feces, litter, and other forms of potentially harmful microorganisms. When the person gets back indoors, the contamination carried by footwear can enter a house, such that unclean feet or footwear will bring microorganisms such as bacteria into the home environment.
At the airport, passengers frequently need to take off their shoes to go through safety/security checkpoints. The passenger's feet may be contaminated by the bacteria on the floor. Since the airport is a high traffic place, the passenger will put their shoes back on in a hurry after the search is completed. However, there is no effective solution to clean one's feet at the airport before passengers put their shoes back on.
In some public places, such as motels, hotels, shopping malls, hospitals and so on, customers enter and leave frequently. It is not practical to clean the floor all the time. Bacteria may be easily and readily transferable between individuals.
For people who keeps pets, it is favorable to take their pets outside from time to time. However, Staph, Mersa, fecal matter, E. coli bacteria, dirt, etc. may be carried by the pet animals' paws from the outside environment. If disinfection is not sufficiently performed for the pet when it gets into the house, a number of debilitating conditions caused by pathogens, and infections may be spread to the people in the home. However, currently there is no method by which pet paws are treated on a regular basis to reduce such transmissibility of disease.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an inexpensive device and procedure by which a foot/paw can be cleaned before entering a room. Floors, ground, tiles, can be protected from serving as a transmissible source of communicable disease-causing pathogens.
There is a further need in the art for a simple device and procedure, that substantially reduces the probability by which an individual can become infected with a disease-causing pathogen such as viruses.
There is still further a need in the art for such a device and procedure that is easy to use and readily deployed. The device can be utilized with virtually all types of floors, carpets, ground, airports, motels, hotels, hospitals, houses, etc.